Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Resources (31)

• "Carta reducida de los payses del norte, en que se demuetra el verdadero Estrecho de Anian, o Paso del Norte,.. y las costas e islas del Mar del Sud, particularmente donde hacen el comercio los Rusos por el Kamschatka,"

  51 pp. (?). In ink and water color, the map shows English, Russian, and Spanish exploration.

• [Joost Willemsz Nieuwkerck] (1587-1645)

  [Account of Russia, possibly prepared for the merchant family Marselis], autograph (?) manuscript, in Dutch, ca. 1632, 17 11.

• [Travel diary]

  An anonymous diary, 2 vols., of a tour through Holland, Hanover, Oldenberg, Holstein, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, and Prussia, June-September 1835. Volume 1 consists of "Rough Notes" made on the trip, Vol. 2 of a "Journal" compiled from the notes.

• Alexander Andreevich Baranov (1746-1819)

  Dated 4/16 October 1816, New Archangel (Sitka), letter, 3 pp., to Mr. Abram Johns, in Boston, former tutor to Baranov's children. Baranov, head of the Russian-American Company in Alaska from 1790 to 1818, writes of his family, life in New Archangel, and of the settlement at Fort Ross, New Albion, California.

• Alexander Hunter Murray (1818-1874)

  Scot who joined the Hudson's Bay Co. in 1846. In his Yukon travels, he observed native customs and the ways of Russian fur traders in the area. Manuscript, 86 pp., entitled "Journal of an Expedition to build the Hudson's Bay Company post on the Yukon." Written in the form of a letter to Murdo McPherson, Esq., in May-June 1848, the piece appeared in print as Journal of the Yukon, 1847–48, edited by L. J. Burpee, in 1910.

• Alexander, Freiherr von Humboldt (1769-1859)

  German explorer, scientist, and natural philosopher. 2 ALS/memoranda, 7 pp., in French but with translation and annotation, concerning international boundaries, the American Northwest Coast, California, and Russian activities on the Pacific Coast. Undated (but ca. 1829), one or both written in Bodega, California.

• Armenian Manuscripts

  The library has the following 6 items or sets: Brief exposition of the seven sacraments of the (Armenian) church, 17th–18th c.; miscellany, A.D. 1688; menologium, A.D. 1648; collection of canticles, A.D. 1415; four Gospels, A.D. 1594; and ritual book, A.D. 1694.

• Charles William Stewart Vane, 3rd Marquis of Londonderry (1778-1854)

  Copy of a letter, 8 October 1836, Moscow, 7 pp., to Princess Daria Khristoforovna (Benckendorff) Lieven, containing his impressions and descriptions of Russia.

• Descripcion geographico historica de la California y Tierras situadas al Nord-Ouest de la America hasta el Estrecho de Anian, segun las ultimas observaciones: y de las Islas de Anadir, Eleuteras, y de Bering

  241 pp., ca. 1790. This manuscript, in a very neat hand throughout, is in 15 chapters and 2 parts; the second part describes voyages and discoveries of the Russians. The anonymous author apparently had access to all published accounts of exploration of the 16th–18th c. and to Spanish archival reports, the sources cited in the footnotes.

• Documents on Russians in California

  4 items, ca. 1825. Drawn up in Mexico by the Junta de Fomento de Californias, signed or produced by Francisco de Paula Tamariz (and in one case, by Lucas Alaman). 1 describes plans for opening a road to New Mexico and a U.S. Congress pact with the Russians, 11 April 1825, 6 pp. A second, 1825–26, 24 pp., reports on Russians in California and details a political-military plan for their expulsion ("Exposicion... sobre la recuperacion del puerto de la Bodega ocupado Los Rusos...."). 2 others describe Russian activity along the Pacific Coast, 9 pp. and 14 pp.

• Ezra Stiles (1727-1795)

  Papers and records, 22 microfilm reels. Minister, educator, and president of Yale. Include references to St. Petersburg, Cossacks, Siberia, commerce, the army, iron mines, the Volga River, and weather conditions. Published guide book for the microfilm edition.

• Frances Anne Emily (Vane-Tempest) Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry (1800-1865)

  ALS, 18 August 1836, Hamburg, Germany, 3 pp., to Prince Khristofor Lieven, in French, discusses her trip to St. Petersburg.

• Fray Antonio de San Jose Muro

  "Al Plan de Conquista, Poblacion de lo Reconocido en el Sur el ano de 1779 se anade algunas Reflexiones por la noticia cierta de los Establecimientos Rusos; y de haber subido...." In this manuscript, 11 pp., Muro, a member of the Bethlehemite Community of Mexico, expresses fears of the Russian Pacific Coast settlements and reveals a plan for Spanish conquest and colonization of that coast north to the 68th parallel. He describes Russian attitudes toward the Catholic Church, the area's riches and natural resources, and reasons for the Spanish ministers to heed his plan. (MS 355)

• George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney (1737-1806)

  Papers, 1764–68, 2 boxes". Diploma t. Notes, memoranda, and drafts concerning his embassy to Russia in 1764–67, including a complete copy of the treaty he negotiated; accounts of travel in Russia and general descriptions of the country, including a treatise on Siberian natural history and fossils found there ; a history of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg; a description of major Russian court figures in 1767; documents on Polish affairs and Russian court protocol; and some papers from before and after his stay. Among the letters written by Macartney are some to Sir John Goodricke, the duke of Grafton, M. de Panin, another duke, Russian officials, and Richard Stonhewer (all from St. Petersburg, all but one copy). There are also copies of a letter from Catherine II to George III, 10 April 1768, and from George III to Catherine II, 12 November 1767, concerning Macartney's mission. 2 of his correspondents who were also in St. Petersburg at this time were John Glen King, 14 ALS, 1769–71, and Robert Thorley. Among the other items in this collection are Macartney's "Answers to questions on Russian matters" (ca. 1765), his Livre de Visites (St. Petersburg, 1765)* his "Instructions to Henry Shirley with a list of papers delivered to him" (St. Petersburg, 3/14 May 1767), and Samuel Swallow's "Address of thanks of the British merchants at St. Petersburg to Lord Macartney," copy, St. Petersburg, 1765. Available on microfilm. Unpublished finding aid.

• George Stewart

  Typed translations of articles from Pravda, Izvestiia, and other Russian-language newspapers printed in the USSR and elsewhere, plus some miscellaneous papers. All items concern social and religious conditions in Russia, 1923–27.

• Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

  The famous black poet and author visited the Soviet Union in 1932–33, with a group filming a movie about black American life. His autobiographical I Wonder as I Wander (New York, 1956) describes his experiences. The library has an extensive collection of his correspondence and manuscripts of his books, poems, and plays, among which are references to the USSR. (In the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection)

• Lord Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury (1801-1893)

  Statesman. His manuscript journal, 185 pp., autograph (?), for 3 May-26 September 1826 describes the duke of Devonshire's special mission to Russia on the occasion of Nicholas I's coronation. Lord Robert was a member of the delegation. He apparently wrote the journal later from a diary kept during the tour.

• Ludovik Choris (1795-1828)

  Paintings and sketches, 1815–18, 44 items. Artist, member of the Kotzebue Expedition. Water color paintings and sketches of the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska, and natives of those regions.

• Max Shachtman correspondence with Leon Trotsky (1930-1940)

  2 boxes, 1 linear foot. 46 TLS and 1 ALS from Leon Trotsky to Max Shachtman. 17 carbons of letters from Shachtman to Trotsky, including 1 ALS and 16 TLS from Trotsky to third parties, and third party correspondence. Concerns the Communist opposition in the 1930s, especially in the United States. English, French, and German. Finding aid available: http://drs.library.yale.edu/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=beinecke:shacht&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes

• Milutin Family

  Papers, ca. 1860–75, 2 portfolios and 1 vol., bound. Correspondence of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Milutin (Miliutin) (1818–1872) and his wife. Chiefly pertaining to the couple's life and his career after his retirement from the post of assistant minister of the Interior in 1861. Important subjects covered include the emancipation of the serfs, student unrest in October-November 1861, and Milutin's role in the suppression of the Polish revolt of 1863. Correspondents include his brother General Dmitrii A. Miliutin, Prince Cherkassy, George Samarin, N. Kh. Bunge, Konstantin Kavelin, and I. S. Turgenev. Also, Madame Milutin's memoirs and an unfinished story entitled "Memoirs of a Governess," 37 pp. Material in Russian and French transcription. Unpublished finding aid.

• Nina Berberova collection (ca. 1900-2001)

  19 boxes (including 2 oversize boxes), 8.31 linear feet. The Nina Berberova Collection contains correspondence, writings, printed material, photographs, audiovisual recordings and electronic files by and relating to Nina Berberova, especially the latter decades of her life. The material was collected and donated by Murl Barker and John Malmstad. Finding aid available: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.berbcoll

• Ralph Haskins (1779-1852)

  Seaman. "Journal of a Voyage from Boston to the North West Coast of America, Thence to Canton, and Back to Boston—Kept an Board Ship Atahualpa by Ralph Haskins in the Years 1800, 1801, 1802 & 1803," 4 vols. Journal covers only the period 30 August 1800 to 25 June 1802, when the Atahualpa was still on the Northwest Coast. Contains references to the Russians there. Vol. 2 contains the "Blotter" and vol. 3 the "Ledger" of the Atahualpa.

• Russia Company, London

  "A list of the Court of Assistants of the Right Worshippfull the Muscovia Company for y. Year. 1723," 1 p.

• Russia: lecture second, 1837

  1 volume (53 l.) ; 21 cm. Holograph notebook containing lectures, in English, on Russian history, language, and the future of the Russian State. Catalogue record: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4152444

• Russian Collection

  This diverse holding includes materials by or about the following individuals, in their own or others' collections: Georgii Adamovich (1894–1971); Iurii Annenkov (1889–1975); Nina Berberova (b. 1901): over 1,000 letters from writers, scholars, and political figures; Robert D. Brewster: 6 albums containing 2,000–3,000 informal, unpublished photographs of the Russian Imperial family taken between ca. 1906 and 1914, plus about 35 letters to Anna Vyrubova from the family during their imprisonment by the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks (1917–18); Ivan Bunin (1870–1954): several hundred of his letters; Boris Filipoff (b. 1905): 5,500 letters to him; Roman Goul (b. 1896); Zinaida Hippius [Gippius] (1869–1945); Georgii Ivanov (1894–1958); Iurii Ivask (b. 1907); Vladimir Korvin-Piotrovskii (1901–1967); V. I. Lenin (1870–1924): over 100 books and pamphlets by and about him, fragments of 2 autograph letters, a corrected typescript, and an unpublished manuscript of which some chapters were written by Lenin; Czeslaw Milosz (b. 1911); Irina Odoevtseva (b. 1901); Iurii Ofrosimov (b. 1895): 1,500 letters to him; Aleksei Remizov (1877–1957); Andrei Sedykh (b. 1902): ca. 400–500 items, including correspondence to him as editor of the emigre newspaper Novoye Russkoye Slovo and literary manuscripts; Fedor Stepun (1884–1970?): 10,000 letters to him; Iurii Terapiano (b. 1892); and Mark Weinbaum (1890–1973).

  All of the collections in the Russian archives are restricted and require the permission of the Curator of the Slavic and East European Collections and/or the donors to see.

• Samuel Harrison (f1. 1850s)

  ALS, 12 pp., to a Major Brown, 17/29 September 1854 from Berlin, describes his journey from St. Petersburg to Berlin.

• Sergei Prokof'ev (1891-1953)

  Composer. TLS, 15 April 1925, Bellevue, to Schlomo B. Lewertoff, in French, saying he is too busy to go to Cologne, 1 p. (Else Thalheimer Lewertoff Papers)

• Stephen Graham (1916-1920)

  1 v. (48 p.) ; 22 x 14 cm. Original manuscripts. Notebook containing tipped-in autograph manuscript pages of articles by Stephen Graham on the Russian Revolution and Russian civilization. Finding aid available: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/7041554

• The Present State of the Russian Empire

  12 11., January 1863. Anonymous manuscript in English.

• Thomas John Gisborne (fl. 1830s)

  Correspondence, 1832–33, 9 items. Representative of the Russia Company of London in St. Petersburg. His letters (to A. H. Thomson or Henry Bonar, Robert Cattley, a Mr. Birch, and Lord Sydenham) discuss the Russia Company, the British Factory in St. Petersburg, and Russian political and business matters. 34 pp., 2–5 pp. each, June 1832 to January 1833, 7 ALS, 2 copies.

• Victor Serge papers (1912-1994)

  27 boxes, 16 linear ft. The Victor Serge Papers contain correspondence; writings; immigration and identification documents for Serge and his wife, Liouba; death masks of Serge and of Leon Trotsky; and various materials concerning Serge (including correspondence, clippings, and photocopies of writings) that were collected by his son, Vlady Kibalchich. The correspondence includes letters between Serge and his wife, son, and other relatives; a few letters between third parties; letters between Serge and his friends and colleagues, including André Breton, Michael Fraenkel, André Gide, Julián Gorkin, Daniel Guérin, Lucien Laurat, Dwight Macdonald, Jean Malaquais, Marcel Martinet, Magdeleine Marx (Paz), Emmanuel Mounier, Nataliia Ivanovna Trotskaia, Leon Trotsky, Leon Werth, and Maurice Wullens; and letters between Serge and publishing companies, journals, and organizations, including The New Leader and Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista.
  The writings include holograph and typescript notes and drafts for Serge's articles, books (including "L'Affaire Toulaév", "Les Derniers temps", and "Mémoires d'un révolutionnaire", among others) and poems. There are also several notebooks, including two daybooks for 1936. Primarily in French, some material in Russian, Spanish, English, and German. Finding aid and digital images available: http://drs.library.yale.edu/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=beinecke:serge&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes